A drawing contest focusing on a July 15 coup attempt in Turkey for students from fine arts high schools has produced images of Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen with devil ears, the Cumhuriyet daily reported on Sunday.
The Turkish Ministry of Education compiled a book of the drawings of high school students who depicted Gülen, who is accused by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of masterminding the coup attempt, with devil ears and as a puppet.
Another drawing was of a Turkish flag in the background with the nation as a fist pointed towards Gülen.
Students also drew images of a soldier on bended knee, captured tanks and the Turkish flag with the AKP symbol.
Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also appeared in many pictures.
The Ministry of Education also organized poetry and composition competitions featuring the failed coup attempt. The drawing contest, named “From coup to democracy: July 15,” was participated in by fine arts high school students from 58 cities.
Turkey survived a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting participants of the Gülen movement in jails.
At least 161,751 people were detained or investigated and 50,334 people were arrested in Turkey in the framework of the Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement since the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016, according to statistics reported by state-run Anadolu news agency by basing on information taken from the officials from Turkey’s Justice Minsitry on June 13. (SCF with turkishminute.com) June 26, 2017
